Comments on: Why LinkedIn endorsements are worthless

By: Julia

Julia — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 22:23:49 +0000

It’s the online equivalent of a teenage clique. I have a notice on my profile saying “please don’t endorse me, I won’t endorse you”.

By: Elizabeth West

Elizabeth West — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 20:49:00 +0000

I have one from a former co-worker (we traded), with little testimonials for each other. That is the only thing I think is worthwhile. But I think of it more as a reference, and it only counts because we worked directly with each other.

I’m extremely picky who I connect with on LinkedIn. Pretty much nobody I don’t actually know. (Although I would connect with Evil HR Lady! 😀 )

By: Randy Carlson

Randy Carlson — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 14:58:59 +0000

I guess, at this point, the question is “is anything worth anything” in the fun filled world of HR…

By: The gold digger

The gold digger — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 17:02:33 +0000

I have a friend who has never worked with me except for waiting tables in college who keeps endorsing me. Is this some game where I am supposed to endorse her back? I wish she would stop. If anyone actually talked to her, they would learn that we haven’t seen each other in over 20 years and have never worked together professionally. So she has no idea whether I’m any good or not. (Except at waiting tables and I do hope I am past that period in my life.)

By: Alexandre Winandy

Alexandre Winandy — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 11:24:08 +0000

Totally agree with you, Linkedin endorsement tool is worthless so far, there are a lot of people over-endorsed that we are sure that they are not masters on the subject. But can’t linkedin build anything better from that?
In my view, the main problem with the idea is (surprise surprise) lack of incentives to be honest. You have a “friend” (or “kind-of-a-friend”) that requested endorsement, you know he/she doesn’t have the skill, so what do you do? A) be honest and tell your friend to take it out b) endorse it to be cool (or c) ignore).

What about giving incentives for endorsements (like “how accurate is the endorsement” “quotas for endorsement” leading to premium features etc?). And I go further: I think the same applies to referrals! 🙂